(12-02-2020 07:58 PM)esayem Wrote:  Hayden Fry was trying to kick down the door in the 70’s. Apparently, the failed attempt contributed to NTSU (great music program) waifing in 80’s 1-AA exile.

Darrell Royal spoke in favor of North Texas being admitted.

DKR was a better coach than athletic director.

(12-03-2020 12:07 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  The more interesting idea may have been to strip off the front range schools in the WAC (BYU, AF, Wyoming, Colorado St, and New Mexico) to create a core of 8 schools. From there, you could probably fill in the east and west divisions from there.

When the Big East was falling apart in 2011-2012, it was able to attract CUSA and SB teams to its leftover core because it was still technically an AQ conference and seemed to have some chance to remain that way. That's why schools like UCF and Memphis proudly thumped their chests when they were invited to the Big East.

A rump SWC core of TCU, SMU, Houston and Rice had nothing like that going for it at the time so I doubt they could have stripped away front range schools from the western conferences.

(12-03-2020 10:58 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(12-03-2020 12:07 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  The more interesting idea may have been to strip off the front range schools in the WAC (BYU, AF, Wyoming, Colorado St, and New Mexico) to create a core of 8 schools. From there, you could probably fill in the east and west divisions from there.

When the Big East was falling apart in 2011-2012, it was able to attract CUSA and SB teams to its leftover core because it was still technically an AQ conference and seemed to have some chance to remain that way. That's why schools like UCF and Memphis proudly thumped their chests when they were invited to the Big East.

A rump SWC core of TCU, SMU, Houston and Rice had nothing like that going for it at the time so I doubt they could have stripped away front range schools from the western conferences.

Maybe not—but it’s not like the WAC was any different from CUSA 1.0. At the time, there was a significant payoff for markets so there may have been some attraction to a union as long as enough western schools were included to keep the the Airport 5 together. With the SWC name and the Cotton Bowl tie, they might could have made something that was worth developing.

(12-05-2020 03:31 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(12-03-2020 10:58 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(12-03-2020 12:07 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  The more interesting idea may have been to strip off the front range schools in the WAC (BYU, AF, Wyoming, Colorado St, and New Mexico) to create a core of 8 schools. From there, you could probably fill in the east and west divisions from there.

When the Big East was falling apart in 2011-2012, it was able to attract CUSA and SB teams to its leftover core because it was still technically an AQ conference and seemed to have some chance to remain that way. That's why schools like UCF and Memphis proudly thumped their chests when they were invited to the Big East.

A rump SWC core of TCU, SMU, Houston and Rice had nothing like that going for it at the time so I doubt they could have stripped away front range schools from the western conferences.

Maybe not—but it’s not like the WAC was any different from CUSA 1.0. At the time, there was a significant payoff for markets so there may have been some attraction to a union as long as enough western schools were included to keep the the Airport 5 together. With the SWC name and the Cotton Bowl tie, they might could have made something that was worth developing.

Take those 4 SWC schools, the front range 4, BYU, Tulane, Tulsa, and Utah.

Mountain West
Mountain: Air Force, BYU, Colorado St, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
West: Houston, Rice, SMU, TCU, Tulane, Tulsa